[The Hill] Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wants know if the FBI warned the Trump campaign about attempts by individuals tied to Russia to "infiltrate" the organization.
Grassley sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday asking if the bureau had given "defensive briefings" or otherwise alerted Trump officials about "potential connections between campaign officials and the Russian government."
"If the FBI did provide a defensive briefing or similar warning to the campaign, then that would raise important questions about how the Trump campaign responded," wrote Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
If the FBI didn't brief the campaign, Grassley wants to know why not and who was involved in the discussions and if a controversial opposition research dossier ‐ which has been a frequent target of Grassley's ‐ impacted the decision.
Grassley is asking that the FBI respond to his letter by Oct. 4.
CNN reported this week that the FBI wiretapped the phones of Paul Manfort, Trump's former campaign chairman, during and after the 2016 campaign, using a secret court under obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Manafort has emerged as a key figure in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's election meddling and potential ties between Moscow and Trump campaign officials.
Pointing to the CNN report, Grassley notes in his letter that recent press reports indicate that Manafort was being investigated by the federal government.
#2
For some reason, I distinctly recall Comey saying that the FBI at one point did brief Trump on the dossier and its salacious content. I think it was during one of his congressional testimonies. I think(?).
[IsraelTimes] Valerie Plame Wilson links to piece called 'America's Jews are driving America's wars,' then says she is of 'Jewish decent,' finally says she made a 'doozy' of a mistake
Valerie Plame Wilson,
...because we all wondered what the CIA's most famous undercover agent has been doing since the last time we noticed her existence...
a former CIA agent and author, came under fire on Thursday after she tweeted a link to a piece titled "America’s Jews are driving America’s wars."
#2
How's that GoFundMe to buy Twitter and kick Trump off going?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2017 11:09 Comments ||
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#3
"I'm sorry if you were offended"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/22/2017 12:36 Comments ||
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#4
Said it before:
How long did this clown work for the CIA?
Did the CIA know?
If yes, did the CIA mind?
Why wasn't she snatched up by State?
Bet her office is near one of the in-house ATMs. The ones whose other end is in Riyadh.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
09/22/2017 17:24 Comments ||
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[Breitbart] City attorneys in San Francisco and Oakland, California, sued five oil companies in two coordinated lawsuits on Tuesday, arguing that the courts should hold these companies responsible for climate change, and force them to financially compensate the cities for harm the plaintiffs claim those companies are causing to the planet’s environment. Can I get rice and beans with that? So very.... below the border.
The two cities are suing five of the top petroleum companies from around the world: BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobile, and Royal Dutch Shell. These local municipalities are suing them under California law for being a public nuisance.
The lawsuits use virtually identical language, like accusing the oil companies with language such as, "For decades, Defendants have known that their fossil fuels pose risks of ’severe’ and ’catastrophic’ impacts on the global climate through the works and warnings of their own scientists or through their trade association."
The cities’ complaints impugn the worst possible motives to the oil companies, comparing their actions to a sustained "propaganda campaign to deceive the public" to encourage "fuel consumption at levels that (as Defendants knew) [were] certain to severely harm the public."
#6
Talk about a brazen shakedown. I bet that this will lose in court. Their beloved "science" has been proven very faulty at best (and flat out fraud). I would hope the oil companies counter sue.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2017 11:14 Comments ||
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#8
Those oil companies should immediately stop selling gasoline to the cities. After all, the city vehicles apparently run on pixie dust and unicorn farts.
Sort of like what Ford did when police agencies sued them over the Crown Victoria cruiser, then went back and tied to order more Crown Vice. Ford refused to sell to those agencies.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/22/2017 12:33 Comments ||
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#9
Oil companies should counter sue California for poluting the towns with tons of horse dung all over the streets and extensive smoke in the air from fireplaces during the 1800s on behalf of our ancesters.
Hat tip: gCaptain
A nice account of the nefariousness of the NORK business. Nobody knows nothin' but everyone knows how this nasty little business works.
At least eight North Korean ships that left Russia with a cargo of fuel this year headed for their homeland despite declaring other destinations, a ploy that U.S. officials say is often used to undermine sanctions.
Reuters has no evidence of wrongdoing by the vessels, whose movements were recorded in Reuters ship-tracking data. Changing a ship's destination once underway is not forbidden and it is unclear whether any of the ships unloaded fuel in North Korea.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/22/2017 13:27 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Latest measure bans foreign banks and businesses doing any trade with Pyongyang to curb its nuclear missile programme
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
The Petrodollar is under attack, with Iran and Venezuela using the Chinese yuan instead of the dollar to avoid sanctions. Chinese cooperation has the world's attention and I suspect Merkel is wetting her pants.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/22/2017 11:52 Comments ||
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#5
Short of war, is there anything that can and ought to be done to stop NK's development of long-range missiles plus hydrogen bombs? if it is war that is needed, why wait?
Posted by: si vis pacem, para bellum ||
09/22/2017 12:08 Comments ||
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#6
I posted some rambling thoughts a few days ago, but am unable to retrieve them from the archive si vis pacem, para bellum. Perhaps TW can assist.
#8
Thank you Besoeker. Good analysis, good strategy. (Add Iran to the analysis and we have a three-front world war brewing?) Rather than outright cutting off China's exports, I would encourage industry here and in other countries to undermine China by a steady shift towards all other trade partners (5-10% a year would rapidly squeeze their economy).
However I'm afraid none of your suggested strategic steps will be enacted. The governing class is too busy destroying any greatness left in this country to take external threats seriously. A bit like Puerto Rico being bankrupt while not spending one cent on resilient infrastructure and their lasting defense.
Posted by: si vis pacem, para bellum ||
09/22/2017 13:07 Comments ||
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#9
However I'm afraid none of your suggested strategic steps will be enacted.
#10
Kim watches the US media closely. Therefore, covert operations and strategies against Kim will not be known until the prize pig has been seized or neutralized. South Korean covert elements would be ideal in these efforts. They look like all Koreans and speak the same lingo. The ideal situation is for him to be remanded to custody in Seoul alive. Allowed to stay alive in SK as long as NK behaves.
[Hurriyet Daily News] South Korea approved a plan yesterday to send $8 million worth of aid to North Korea, as China warned the crisis on the Korean peninsula was getting more serious by the day and the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington continued.
North Korea’s foreign minister likened U.S. President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... to a "barking dog" yesterday, after Trump warned he would "totally destroy" the North if it threatened the United States and its allies.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the situation on the Korean peninsula was getting more serious by the day and could not be allowed to spin out of control.
"We call on all parties to be calmer than calm and not let the situation escalate out of control," Wang said, according to a report from the state-run China News Service yesterday.
Meeting separately with his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, Wang reiterated a call for South Korea to remove the U.S.-built THAAD anti-missile system, which China says is a threat to its own security.
"China hopes South Korea will make efforts to reduce tension," a report on China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying.
The decision to send aid to North Korea was not popular in South Korea, hitting President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating. It also raised concerns in Japan and the United States, and followed new U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its sixth nuclear test earlier this month.
The South’s Unification Ministry said its aid policy remained unaffected by geopolitical tensions with the North. The exact timing of when the aid would be sent, as well as its size, would be confirmed later, the ministry said in a statement.
The South said it aimed to send $4.5 million worth of nutritional products for children and pregnant women through the World Food Programme and $3.5 million worth of vaccines and medicinal treatments through UNICEF.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2017 00:00 ||
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[TheLocal.fr] The party has been based on the Rue de Solferino in the chic Seventh Arrondissement of the capital since 1981 when ex-leader Francois Mitterrand was elected the first Socialist president under the current constitution.
Thirty-six years later, the party is fighting for survival after its debacle in the presidential election in May and a humiliating score in parliamentary elections in June, when President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party swept the board.
The decision to sell was made Tuesday evening by party leaders, with press reports saying the building, at 3,000 square metres (32,000 square feet), could raise 40 to 70 million euros ($50-85 million).
"It's a difficult decision because this place is symbolic," party treasurer Jean-Francois Debat told news hounds.
"It's based on two considerations. Firstly it's obvious there are financial constraints. It's also a political choice to prepare for the future."
In the presidential election in May, the party's candidate Benoit Hamon finished fifth with a score of just 6.36 percent after a campaign in which many party leaders defected to Macron's centrist political movement.
In the parliamentary elections a month later, the number of Socialist politicians fell by more than 250 to just 30, leaving the party facing major financial problems after five years in power under ex-president Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... French political parties rely on both private donations and public subsidies which are paid on the basis of the number of their elected representatives.
After the parliamentary debacle, Socialist party chief Jean-Christophe Cambadelis resigned, leaving the movement rudderless and unable to make an impact in the first few months of Macron's rule.
#4
In recent years the indigenous have been granted "First Nation" status in the north, but it's cold outside. There's little incentive to work down south and improve things when you're on the dole, and anyone not wearing the requisite drab clothing will be shunned.
[DAWN] The body of a nine-year-old boy who had been raped and then murdered was found in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Saeedabad area on Thursday, officials said.
The body of the boy, recovered in Saeedabad Sector-4, was shifted to Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination.
Additional Police Surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed Abbasi told Dawn that the boy had been subjected to criminal assault before being strangulated to death. Torture marks were also present on different parts of his body, he said.
Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) West Younis Chandio told Dawn that the victim was a student at a local seminary. He went to the seminary on Tuesday, but did not return home, he added.
The family lodged his missing persons report at the Saeedabad cop shoppe on Thursday morning, which prompted the police to initiate a search and recover his body.
SSP Chandio said that this is the second such incident in the vicinity.
Three months ago, the body of another boy who was raped and murdered was found.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2017 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
"Be on the lookout for a middle-aged white Christian woman"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2017 14:08 Comments ||
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[DAWN] A two-year-old girl in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... (KP) has been diagnosed with the polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... virus, the province's health department told DawnNews on Thursday.
The girl, who belongs to the Lakki Marwat district, had been vaccinated against polio this year. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... her family decided to have her examined after they realised that one of her legs hurt.
Health officials say that though she has contracted virus, she will be able to walk normally thanks to her prior vaccination.
This is the first polio case that has emerged in KP this year. Last year, eight cases were reported from the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2017 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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[DAWN] A teenage girl employed at the house of a local businessmen died under mysterious circumstances in Sanghar, police said on Thursday.
According to the dear departed's family, the girl died on Tuesday, September 19, at the house of a factory owner where she used to work as a maidservant.
The girl's brother has registered a murder case with Sanghar police against Seth Ratan ‐ the employer ‐ who has yet to be apprehended.
Mitho Bheel ‐ a human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... activist who is pursuing the victim's family’s case ‐ alleges that it is a case of murder but the medico-legal officer (MLO) had written it off as a suicide.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... police have started the paperwork but haven't done much else under Section 302 of the Pakistain Penal Code on the complaint of Senior Superintendent of Police Farrukh Lanjar, who nonetheless maintains that so far, it appears to be a case of suicide.
"According to the MLO, she was breathing when she was brought to the hospital with her neck bone broken," he said, while adding that the case will remain open and all possible scenarios will be taken into account.
He confirmed that no arrests have been made in the case as yet, adding that the suspects absconded after the FIR was registered against them.
According to SSP Lanjar, the evidence suggested that the girl wanted to marry her cousin but could not do so as the Bheel community does not allow consanguineal marriages, which could have led her to commit suicide.
He added that the MLO had refused to share the postmortem exam report with the police.
According to the SSP, the girl's father had dropped her off at Seth Ratan’s house in the morning as per routine.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, the president of the International Aids Society, told the BBC: "This paper reports an exciting breakthrough.
Even more exciting Prof Bekker would be the discovery of an 'antibody' that attacks fok'n CANCER, which is killing the rest of us who are NOT buggering one another.
#3
Not bullshit. Antibodies block certain receptors. Problem with HIV is our body doesn't make one well for the protein receptor it attacks. Some people have a mutated version and are immune from the virus. Creating an antibody in the lab and using an infected monkey or pig to pump out more of them isn't too far out there. They have been doing it for years against other viruses.
OK, but what if we made little nanobot submarines that would go out and hunt down the invading viruses. Like in that movie Fantastic Voyage. Also Raquel Welch.
[Daily Caller] Former FBI Director James Comey’s keynote speech at Howard University was interrupted by protesters singing "We Shall Not Be Moved."
Comey was set to speak at Howard’s 2017-18 convocation as the school’s endowed chair of public policy, but he didn’t receive a warm welcome from some students at the historically black college.
A group of students in the back of the auditorium stood up during Comey’s speech with their fists raised to indicate "black power." The group sang the old spiritual song, "We Shall Not Be Moved" and broke out into chants about being black.
"I said I love being black!" one protester yelled, cuing the other protesters to repeat it back. "I love the color of my skin!"
h/t Instapundit
...Damon is the son of a public school teacher and a major proponent of public schools. However, as RedState notes, he's not sending his kids to public school. Can we have a surprise mater?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[IsraelTimes] Valerie Plame Wilson links to piece called 'America's Jews are driving America's wars,' then says she is of 'Jewish decent,' finally says she made a 'doozy' of a mistake
[Al Jazeera] Kim Jong-un responds to US president's 'totally destroy' threat by calling Donald Trump a 'rogue and a gangster'
North Korea
[DAWN] The body of a nine-year-old boy who had been raped and then murdered was found in 
[DAWN] A two-year-old girl in 
